Dutch far-right MP slams Turkey referendum rally plans

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands — Dutch far-right MP Geert Wilders Sunday denounces plans by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to attend a Rotterdam rally in support of a high-stakes Turkish referendum.

“They should not come and interfere here with our domestic problems,” Wilders tells reporters, referring to next Saturday’s rally backing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Dutch officials, including Prime Minister Mark Rutte, have already condemned the plans to hold the demonstration organized by some of the port city’s sizable Turkish community.

“If I would be prime minister today I would declare — until at least the half of April when they have the referendum — I would call the whole cabinet of Turkey persona non grata for a month or two, not allowing them to come here,” Wilders says, speaking in English.

“We believe that Dutch public space is not the place to hold a political campaign for another country,” Rutte said on his Facebook page.

A Turkish-Dutch political association said Friday that Cavusoglu would attend the rally, hoping to persuade some hundreds of thousands of Turkish-origin citizens to vote “yes” in the April 16 referendum aimed at boosting Erdogan’s powers.

German towns last week banned three similar rallies which had been due to be attended by Turkish ministers, provoking anger from Ankara.

The Turkish public will decide whether to approve constitutional changes that will expand the role of the head of state and remove the office of the premier.

— AFP